Fair trial and its essentials in the age of terrorism

By Barrister Amjad Malik

This paper was read at the SCBA conference recently.

Two thousand years ago, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman philosopher, orator, lawyer, and politician, once stated that

"The soul, mind, and meaning of a State lie in its Laws".

That is, laws are a reflection of the state's mindset and commitment to fight issues like terrorism and target killings.

9/11 changed the world and internal security and anti-terrorism laws all over the world were no exception to this change. The most visible change was observed at the global lawmakers’ reaction against the emerging threats of terrorism and how they devised new ways and mechanisms to deter these threats. Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA’s) all around the globe got special powers to cope with the emerging internal security challenges.

Free to search and seize - Fourth Amendment

By David K Shipler (Courtesy New York Times)

THIS spring was a rough season for the Fourth Amendment. The Obama administration petitioned the Supreme Court to allow GPS tracking of vehicles without judicial permission. The Supreme Court ruled that the police could break into a house without a search warrant if, after knocking and announcing themselves, they heard what sounded like evidence being destroyed. Then it refused to see a Fourth Amendment violation where a citizen was jailed for 16 days on the false pretext that he was being held as a material witness to a crime.